


I'll Walk Through Hell with You (You're Not Alone)

by battlecry7473



Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Rape/Non-con Elements, episode tag s1e9 cupid's dagger, the pov shifts a lot please bear with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 09:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20525456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/battlecry7473/pseuds/battlecry7473
Summary: Ed is concerned about Kelly after the events with Darulio. When he goes to check on her after shift, they have a serious discussion.





	I'll Walk Through Hell with You (You're Not Alone)

**Author's Note:**

> I just started watching The Orville a few days ago, but I binged the entirety of season 1 in a day. Episode 9 and tumblr's reaction after going through the tags pissed me off so much, and this is my way of dealing with that anger. I'm pretty sure I made it clear what's discusses in the story tags, but again, heavy discussions of rape/non-con/dub-con.

Twenty minutes before their shift started, and Kelly was nowhere in sight. She hadn’t been seen since the night before when Darulio had been excused from _ The Orville _ after Alara exposed him for being in heat and affecting Ed, Kelly, and Claire.

It wasn’t like Kelly to be late for a shift, and she probably would be on the bridge soon, but Ed still worried.

He passed Gordon in the hall and stopped him. “Hey, have you seen Kelly?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “I haven’t seen her since last night, and after everything with _ him _…” 

Ed didn’t want to say the name out loud. Just thinking about the last few days carried heavy implications, and he didn’t really want to think too much into it. They weren’t very pleasant implications.

Gordon rocked on his feet for a second then raised his finger as though he had a thought. “Well, I saw her by the simulation room earlier. Maybe she’s still there?” 

Ed nodded, and with thanks, left and headed down the hall of the ship towards the simulation room. It wasn’t unusual for Kelly to use the simulation room, but twenty minutes before shift? 

When he entered the simulation, he didn’t expect to see a boxing ring, nor did he expect to see Darulio (or, Ed supposed, his simulation counterpart) getting his ass kicked in the ring by Kelly. 

His ex wife didn’t even notice his appearance. She was too focused on the simulation. Her hair matted to her face from sweat, and her arms a flurry of motion as she landed jab after jab, punch after punch. 

If he wasn’t so concerned, Ed would have thought it was hot.

“End simulation,” he called, and watched as the room pixelated and turned back into the bare white walls.

Kelly gasped as her hand struck nothing and fell to her knees, breathing quickly and taking in large gulps of air.

Ed moved to kneel beside her and gently set his hand on her back. “Kelly,” he said softly.

“I’m fine.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up, settling her with a hand above her waist. “I didn’t say you weren’t,” he stated. “I just wanted to check on you. Shift starts soon, and I haven’t seen you since Da-”

“_ Don’t _-” the icy venom in her tone startled him, and he took a step back. “Don’t say his name.”

“Okay, alright, I'm sorry. I just wanted to check on you because shift is starting soon, and you’re never late.”

Kelly huffed out a breath and shrugged him off. “I’m fine. I’ll be there for the start of shift. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Unbeknownst to her, that was a request Ed couldn’t follow. There hadn’t been a day since their divorce where he didn’t worry about, but she didn’t need to know that. He’d worry about her in silence.

“Alright, well, I want you to take the day off.” He put a hand to her elbow and squeezed gently when she started to argue. “No, listen. We’re just doing a supply run. Bortus can handle being second-in-command for the day. After the last few days, I think you need a day off.”

He himself probably should take one, too, but he didn’t want to think about _ why _ for too long.

His ex-wife sighed with obvious malcontent, and she glared at him with a look that said she would rather stab him, but nodded. “Fine, but only today. Tomorrow, I’m back to duty.”

Ed released a long breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow morning at 0800.”

Kelly nodded, and with one final half-hearted glare, left the simulation room.

Ed left himself, and as he made his way to the bridge and the captain’s seat, he decided he would check in on her after shift. Even if his presence wasn’t welcomed.

\-----------

Kelly lied curled up on her couch, a pillow hugged tightly to her chest, dressed only in her underwear and an old t-shirt (she may have taken it from Ed before their divorce, but she wouldn’t say it aloud). An empty bottle of bourbon, tipped on its side, sat on the small coffee table in front of her, the tumbler left abandoned on the floor.

The tone signalling someone was outside her door sounded, and Kelly sighed heavily. “Go away,” she called out, voice slow and words slurred.

“Kelly, let me in, please.”

“No, Ed. Just leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that, Kelly, especially right now.”

_ That stubborn idiot _, she thought to herself. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone for the night? She’d be back to work in the morning. She just wanted the night to herself.

“Kelly, I can override the commands on the lock if I feel like you’re a danger to yourself,” Ed started, his voice unusually tender. “Please show me I have no reason to do that.”

She sighed annoyedly but sat up anyways and gave permission for him to come in.

The door slid open, and Ed stepped inside, two bowls with a spoon in each, in hand. His body sagged slightly as he looked Kelly over, though a frown remained on his face at the sight of the empty bourbon bottle. 

“When did you get that?”

“Why are you here, Ed?”

“I wanted to be sure you were okay.”

“Why?” Kelly inquired, a fierceness in her eyes he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Why do you care so much? I _ hurt _you, Ed, in the worst way possible.” She ran a hand frustratedly through her hair as tears began to fall down her face. “I hurt you, humiliated you, and yet you still care. Why?”

Ed shrugged. He never really knew how to respond when Kelly opened up. She only ever showed her vulnerable side a handful of times during their time together. It wasn’t something he had much experience with it. He awkwardly held the bowls in his hands up. 

“I thought maybe you’d want to share some ice cream,” he said. 

Kelly breathed deeply and flopped back down onto her couch, hugging the pillow to her chest again. She looked from Ed’s face to the bowls in his hands. “Cheesecake brownie with caramel sauce?” she asked quietly.

“Your favorite,” Ed confirmed. He cautiously took a seat on the other end of the couch and offered a bowl. “I know I might not be someone you want to see right now, but I care about you, as my XO and as my ex-wife,” he started hesitantly as Kelly took the peace offering. “And, um, I know you might not want to talk about-” he gestured vaguely with his spoon “-what happened, but, if you want to, I’m open ears.”

Kelly took a bite of her ice cream and savored it for a few moments. She really didn’t want to talk about what happened, but Ed was a part of it, too, and it probably affected him more than he let on.

“He was in heat.”

Ed looked up from his bowl and watched his ex-wife intently. “What was that?”

Kelly set her bowl down on the table with slightly more force than necessary. “Darulio. He was _ in heat _ . And he still came to work on _ The Orville _.” She stood up, a little unsteady from her drinking, and started to pace the small living room. “I was told him I didn’t want to continue with a relationship. And then-” she stopped and her face crumpled as she collapsed to the couch again, curling in on herself. “I woke up in bed with him. Again.”

Ed frowned and tilted his head again. “What do you mean ‘woke up in bed with him’?” he questioned, his throat turning dry, like he’d swallowed a gallon of sand. He had his own experience, but the way she spoke, it was as if- “Kelly, talk to me.”

She shook her head and curled impossibly further in on herself and a sob clawed its way from her throat. “I don’t- I don’t- I don’t remember agreeing to- to have sex with him the first time,” she finally managed to gasp out between sobs.

Ed’s heart dropped down into his stomach at the statement, and the agony and distress in Kelly’s features as she cried. He slowly inched closer to her. “Kel, is it okay-” he stopped to let a deep breath out and then tried again. “Is it okay if I hug you?”

It took a minute, but finally she nodded, and slowly, Ed moved to wrap her in his arms and hold her tight to his torso. He sat there as she cried, letting the pain roll off her in waves, and gently soothingly her back as she finally calmed down several minutes later.

“I’m sorry.”

“No. _ No _. You have nothing to be sorry for,” Ed stated. 

“Our marriage, it ended, fuck, Ed, it ended with-” she choked on another sob and clung tighter to the man. “I don’t _ remember _ saying yes to sleeping with him. We were having dinner, and he grabbed my hand, and then- and then you were in the doorway of the bedroom and I was in bed with him.”

Ed was suddenly overcome with rage, and he desired to storm down to the bridge and order their direction be changed to head to Retepsia so he could beat the shit out of the real Darulio. For Kelly, who had been assaulted _ twice _, for Claire, an unfortunate victim, and for himself.

He didn’t like thinking about it, but he’d been assaulted to, and he wanted to kick Darulio’s ass for taking advantage of them.

He tuned back into the heartbreaking sound of Kelly’s hoarse apologies.

“I’m sorry. I'm sorry. I’m _ sorry _.”

Ed tightened his grasp on her. “No, you have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the captain. I should have requested a different archeologist and never let him on the ship.” He didn’t want to talk about his own assault. He would deal with that later.

“Kelly, nothing that happened was your fault,” he promised. “If what you’re saying is true, than he drugged you. He-” Saying it out loud would make it definitive for him, too, but it needed to be said. “He raped you.”

Kelly cried out, shaking her head.

“It was not your fault, Kelly,” Ed declared, putting as much conviction as he could behind his words. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry it happened. To both of us. And I would kill him if I could.”

More for Kelly than himself, but a few of the punches he would be thrilled to land on Darulio’s face would be for himself. 

Eventually, Kelly’s breathing settled into a normal pace, and the tension poured out from her body in exhaustion. 

“I don’t know if I have a right to ask, I probably don’t honestly, but-” she inhaled slowly “-will you stay, please? I don’t want to be alone.”

Ed nodded and carefully stood up with her in his arms and headed for the bedroom. “You’re not alone, Kel. I’m here for you. I’d walk through hell with you. You’re not alone.”

Kelly sighed as he gently set her on her bed and laid beside her. “That goes for you too, Ed. I know what happened affected you, too, even if you won’t outright say it.” She reached up to run a hand through his short hair. “I care about you, and I appreciate that you still care about me.”

“I always will, Kel. I don’t think anything could stop me.”

They would need to have more serious discussions, probably bring in another psychologist to help with their trauma, but for now, for one night, this would be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic for this fandom, so hopefully it wasn't too terrible. Especially because it was more a vent fic than anything else. But I hope I was kind of true to their characters and not too OOC. Drop a comment and let me know what you think?
> 
> **This isn't beta'd or proofread. Any mistakes are mine.


End file.
